Rigging goes up

August 28, 2012

The first oil and gas well permitted in Fairfield Township is the Mellinger 7-12-2 8H on Beeson Mill Road just south of state Route 344 on the eastern edge of Leetonia. The rigging was erected last week as the site is being prepared by Nomac Drilling (No. 310), the contractor on the exploratory horizontal well for Chesapeake Energy. The rotary rigs are about 130 feet tall and are usually based on 300 by 400-foot pads which can be used to drill multiple wells from a single site. The rigs drill to different depths and are manned and guarded 24/7. (Salem News photo by Larry Shields)